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The Chartists
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Contacts :-
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Taplas
Talks to Geri Thomas (June/July Issue, 1987) When it comes to discussing the current state of life in the South Wales Valleys, The Chartists' Geri Thomas pulls no punches and he's not short of a word or two about who is to blame for the devastation that has occurred. Originally from Aberbargoed and now living in Gelligaer he has witnessed at first hand the destruction of the communities in the Rhymney Valley. He makes no apologies, therefore, for the fact that some of the material on the band's new album is thoroughly uncompromising.
But it wasn't contemporary politics that first led to
the formation of The Chartists. They're original concern was more to do with the
political history of the area. Wynford Jones, from Tredegar, had written a
series of songs about the nineteenth century Chartist march on Newport.
Coincidentally, Geoff Cripps, the organiser of Islwyn Folk Club, is a history
graduate who had made a special study of the Chartist movement in the Sirhowy
Valley and Geri's great, great, great grandfather, Isaac Thomas, actually took
part in the uprising. Inevitably, they were both keen on Wynford's idea of getting a band together to perform the
songs he had written. Various others also liked the idea and after several
abortive attempts the band - made up of Gen, Geoff, Wynford, Remo Lusardi from
Blackwood, Laurence Eddy from the Rhondda and Russell Jones from Nelson - came
into being. Very soon they were attracting a lot of attention and
live performances of the Chartist song-cycle received critical acclaim from a
wide variety of sources. Indeed, among those to comment favourably, was Neil Kinnock, the Member of Parliament for
Islwyn. With the help of Jack King, a producer at the BBC, a
radio programme was made and the band decided to look into the possibilities of
recording the songs.
Thus, Islwyn Folk Club's house label, Steam Pie
Records was born with The Chartists album being the first release. "It was a very successful venture," Geri
told us. "And the interest wasn't just from this area. We sold copies as
far afield as Northern Italy and Japan. After a few years, though, Geri felt the band had
outlived itself and decided to pull out. "The Chartist set had become overworked,"
he told us, "and although we had a second set of songs, it wasn't evolving
the way I'd hoped." "Recently, though, after a couple of years'
break, Wynford, who'd been on the dole for some time, told us he'd written some
songs about the crises facing the Valleys in the mid-eighties, . and, as a
result, we decided to re-form the band. By this time Russell and Remo were
involved in other things, so there's just the four of us this time round. And
this time round we intend to stick to the message we want to put across."
We were talking, in fact, shortly before the band was
to play for a Morning Star social. A lot of their work comes from political
organisations and trades unions and that pleases Geri. "I'm a member of the Labour Party," he said, "but collectively the band
does not ally itself to any particular party - just to the principle of
socialism." Geri firmly believes that when they play for political organisations,
or even in their local community centres or rugby clubs, people will listen to
what they have to say and identify with the message. The same is not true, he
feels, of folk clubs. "It's not so bad in South Wales," he said,
"but when you get further a-field the audiences don't want to know. The
clubs have, unfortunately, been usurped by the middle classes." The Chartists now have a second album, containing
their new material, due for imminent release. There have been one or two delays
and setbacks but Geri hopes the release can coincide with the general election.
"Brian's a great musician and he's very
sympathetic to the type of material we're doing," said Gen.
"Originally, he was going to produce the album but he couldn't be here at
the right time. But we have got him playing. He came down specially from Durham,
which was the nearest point on his travels to us. We've also used a couple of
local musicians, including a cornet player from the Cross Keys Brass
Band." They had hoped to use a
section of the Tredegar Town Band - one of Wynford's songs is about the band -
but, disappointingly, that was not possible. "If you still have a subscriber in Japan," said Geri, "tell him the new album's much better than the first." Check
out Taplas' website at http://www.taplas.co.uk/ |
"The
major record companies weren't in the least bit interested," said Geri,
"and there was no enthusiasm even from labels more normally associated with
folk music.
"We're
pig sick of the way things are portrayed in the press and on television,"
said Gen, "and we think the best way we can help is through the medium of
our songs."
One
difference with this second album is that it's the product of a more collective
enterprise with all members of the band making contributions to the music and
the arrangements. They have also brought in Battlefield Band's Brian McNeill,
among others.